


A View From Above

by Nadler



Category: Blue Bloods (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ficlet, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-26
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2019-06-16 11:59:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15436578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nadler/pseuds/Nadler
Summary: In another life, Jamie Reagan would have been a priest. Still, some things don't change.This is that story.  A small character exploration.





	A View From Above

**Author's Note:**

> A short ficlet because excuse me, why hasn't this been done. Also, I basically only care about Jamie and season 2 is my favorite, so ~timeline handwave. I also basically don't know anything about the priesthood and have kept things vague; this is not a nitty-gritty look into the Roman Catholic Church.

This wasn't where Jamie's parents saw him going; Mom was so proud that he'd gone to Harvard, that he'd have followed Erin and studied the law. 

Jamie's hands felt clammy, and this suit felt too constricting. It was his good suit, the one he wore for interviews and the rarest of occasions, and now, as he straightened his tie, Jamie knew he'd never wear it again. 

And there they were, six suited men come to bring off one of the best of them: Jamie; Danny; Dad; Gramps; Tony Renzulli; Joe's partner. They carried Joe and laid him to rest; all of them, really, but the walk stretched an eternity. 

Reagans weren't good at funerals, and Jamie, maybe, the worst of them all. 

 

Sydney left him when Jamie stopped being a lawyer; she might even have known before he did. 

"It changed you," she said, when he found her things separated from his, disentangling their lives so easily. They were going to live picture-perfect, two law kids growing into themselves. If Jamie was honest, he wanted to outdo Erin, to do her life better--That mattered less, now. 

He didn't need to know that she meant _Joe_. It did change him. Life was too short to not do the things that mattered.

They weren't friends, at the end, but they were never friends in the first place. There weren't any hard feelings, but that chapter of his life was over. 

 

He did a lot of soul searching, and he'd found a calling he wasn't sure of, but law wasn't so different than theology. Some people would say it was crazy he'd give that all up to become a _priest_. 

 

Gramps was first, though, to congratulate him. "We've got a priest in the family," he declared, patting Jamie on the back, and then, lower, with a smile, "Whisky?" 

Jamie laughed. It wasn't all that different; Gramps would be Gramps, and he'd have offered if it was Jamie finding his place in a law firm, too. 

 

New York's a big place, and there lots of places for Jamie to go, places where a fresh face and young blood are good for the priesthood. 

 

He's supposed to save men's souls, but sometimes, he saved their lives, too. 

"You know," Noble Sanfino said. He didn't look pretty, but he was out of the hospital and into rehab. Jamie wouldn't say they met under the best circumstances, but mysterious ways and all. "I'm pretty sure the big guy doesn't care about me." 

Jamie's heard that a lot, and all he could do was shrug and answer, "Well, I'm here as proof he does." 

Noble snorted, but he didn't look away. "Next, you're going to tell me that I should come to Mass on Sunday?" 

"The door's always open," Jamie said, noncommittal.

"Well, Father." Noble looked past him, to the door. "You might be a priest, but you're not _my_ priest." 

Noble wasn't one of the Sanfinos that listened to his priest, obviously, but Jamie was a little over his head when he found out exactly who that was. Even criminals went to Mass. 

Jamie made headlines, once, for rushing into a burning building to save a child. The optics were good on that, Dad said, but not for the police force. 

Renzulli was a good man, and sometimes, he wanted someone to talk about Joe with, someone who wasn't Danny, and sometimes, a man wanted to talk to a priest outside the confines of a church building. Jamie didn't mind. They were at a casual dinner, and afterwards, Tony asked, "Maybe, you should have been a firefighter?"

Jamie frowned, dusted off his pants. "I don't think so." 

 

"You know," Vincent Cruz said, full of bluster and everything that they fed young cops at the Academy. "Sometimes, I think you're in here too often, Father. You sure you're not a cop?" 

"I'm sure, Officer." 

Jamie was not at the precinct that often, but sometimes, Danny did something stupid or someone needed him. He may have been a priest, but he was also a Reagan. He's as comfortable in a police precinct as his own home.

 

Vincent Cruz's funeral was a solemn affair. Jamie didn't think he'd ever get better at funerals. He didn't want to. 

 

Jamie didn't know when he'd acquired a small orbit of police officers, but he was a Reagan. Maybe it was to be expected that where there was one cop, there'd be a dozen more. Tony Renzulli brought her over. 

"You know." She pursed her lip. "I don't think I've ever thought about the kind of men that would be young priests." 

"Well, we've all got to start somewhere." Jamie straightened his collar. "I can't be born with wrinkles." 

"Now, I, on the other hand," Father McMurray interjected, placing a hand on Jamie's shoulder. Jamie didn't flinch. It was hard to miss the sound of him in his place. "Was ancient when this one was an altar boy." 

"I stand guilty as charged, Father." Father McMurray brought that out in him, still. It was still a little odd that he could almost stand and say one day, Jamie'd be his equal. He was an institution all to himself. 

 

The first time Eddie put two and two together, she didn't stop herself from asking, "So how does a cop's son become a priest?" 

"Well, I can show you my seminary grades." Jamie didn't get that a lot, but it was enough. "I have a degree and everything." 

"You're going to tell me it was a calling?" She looked skeptical. 

Tony came back with some coffee, the staple of cops and law students everywhere. "Hey, don't harangue the padre." 

"You know," Jamie said. "There's not a lot of difference between knowing you're going to be a cop and knowing you're going to to be a priest." 

In another life, maybe, he'd have stayed a lawyer, like Erin. Or maybe he'd done what Dad and Joe and Danny did: walk the beats of New York, follow in the cop dynasty. 

 

There's one thing that never changed: Jamie made time for Sunday dinner, constituents allowing, but he was still a young priest and not with so many responsibilities. He was a Reagan, through and through, and as Nikki said, "It kind of looks bad if the priest is late to Sunday dinner?" 

Jamie smiled and passed the potatoes.


End file.
